Fringe medicine

Alternative treatments that use everything from fire to blood get boost from celebrities

Published 3:34 pm, Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Bridgette Shea-Kinder performs a cupping treatment on her husband, yoga instructor Mark Kinder at Ageless Acupuncture on Wednesday, May 8, 2013 in Saratoga Springs, NY. She is using cotton balls with rubbing alcohol, set on fire to create a vacuum inside the glass cup which will be placed on the skin. Shea-Kinder uses glass cups to help release the stagnation in a person's channels and underlying tissue. (Paul Buckowski / Times Union)

Bridgette Shea-Kinder performs a cupping treatment on her husband,...

Jennifer Aniston arrives at the world premiere of "Call Me Crazy: A Five Film" in Los Angeles with noticeable cupping procedure marks. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)

Jennifer Aniston arrives at the world premiere of "Call Me Crazy: A...

Kim Kardashian's popular twitter pic after having the Vampire Facial procedure. (Kim Kardashian)

Kim Kardashian's popular twitter pic after having the Vampire...

Bridgette Shea-Kinder performs a cupping treatment on her husband, yoga instructor Mark Kinder at Ageless Acupuncture on Wednesday, May 8, 2013 in Saratoga Springs, NY. Shea-Kinder uses glass cups to help release the stagnation in a person's channels and underlying tissue. (Paul Buckowski / Times Union)

Bridgette Shea-Kinder performs a cupping treatment on her husband,...

Bridgette Shea-Kinder performs a cupping treatment on her husband, yoga instructor Mark Kinder at Ageless Acupuncture on Wednesday, May 8, 2013 in Saratoga Springs, NY. Shea-Kinder uses glass cups to help release the stagnation in a person's channels and underlying tissue. (Paul Buckowski / Times Union)

Bridgette Shea-Kinder performs a cupping treatment on her husband,...

Bridgette Shea-Kinder performs a cupping treatment on her husband, yoga instructor Mark Kinder at Ageless Acupuncture on Wednesday, May 8, 2013 in Saratoga Springs, NY. Shea-Kinder uses glass cups to help release the stagnation in a person's channels and underlying tissue. (Paul Buckowski / Times Union)

Bridgette Shea-Kinder performs a cupping treatment on her husband,...

Bridgette Shea-Kinder performs a cupping treatment on her husband, yoga instructor Mark Kinder at Ageless Acupuncture on Wednesday, May 8, 2013 in Saratoga Springs, NY. Shea-Kinder uses glass cups to help release the stagnation in a person's channels and underlying tissue. (Paul Buckowski / Times Union)

Bridgette Shea-Kinder performs a cupping treatment on her husband,...

Bridgette Shea-Kinder performs a cupping treatment on her husband, yoga instructor Mark Kinder at Ageless Acupuncture on Wednesday, May 8, 2013 in Saratoga Springs, NY. Shea-Kinder uses glass cups to help release the stagnation in a person's channels and underlying tissue. (Paul Buckowski / Times Union)

When Jennifer Aniston or Gwyneth Paltrow show up on the red carpet looking like they just pulled a suckerfish off their backs, the common reaction is "that's weird!" But Bridgette Shea-Kinder is glad celebrities are spreading awareness for an ancient Chinese practice — cupping.

Shea-Kinder practices acupuncture, which has become more mainstream, and hopes more people see the benefit of cupping. It is far from the weirdest thing celebrities do, usually in hopes of preserving their looks: facials using bird or worm poop, bee and snake venom, even blood.

A licensed acupuncturist, Shea-Kinder was always interested in alternative forms of healing and started practicing acupuncture and cupping, often used in tandem, in 2008.

"The idea behind it is there is an intelligence that flows through the body called chi and it needs to keep flowing through the body with the blood at a rhythmic rate undisturbed by internal or external factors," Shea-Kinder said.

While acupuncture needles are placed to relieve a specific ailment, cupping treats general aches and pains — signs your chi isn't flowing through your body properly. Shea-Kinder uses a series of small, glass fish bowl-shaped cups. She sets fire to a cotton ball and places it in a cup with forceps to create a vacuum, then quickly removes it before putting the cup upside down in on her client's skin. The person's flesh is drawn up into the cup, and Shea-Kinder leaves it on for up to five minutes depending on the treatment.

Cupping can relieve symptoms of colds, allergies, asthma and coughs, Shea-Kinder said. The more serious the blockage within a client's muscles, the darker the marks left behind by the cups. A cupping session is $45 for a half hour at Shea-Kinder's shop, Ageless Acupuncture at 53 Spring St., Saratoga Springs. Acupuncture is $90 for the first treatment, $75 for a follow-up appointment.

While cupping will leave you with marks resembling hickeys, another treatment will leave you without hair on your head if it's not done correctly — fire therapy — offered locally at Izumi Spa.

Fire therapy, also called fire dragon therapy, involves lying under a blanket that has been set on fire. It, too, is meant to relax and soothe the muscles, like a massage but more exciting — if you consider the threat of third-degree burns exciting.

Advertisements for fire therapy feature a long list of ailments relieved by the blanket of fire, including joint pain, arthritis, anxiety and menstrual pain.

According to promotion materials for Philadelphia-based Fire Massage Experience, "your skin undergoes a mild detoxing as your body reacts to the fire. You may begin to sweat. Additionally, endorphins are released and you may feel a renewed sense of well-being, even as the fires dance upon your body. The sensation itself has been described by some clients to feel much like a hot stone massage."

Helen Wu, the manager of Izumi Spa at 3333 Consaul Road, Niskayuna, said it's not dangerous to her or the client, but it is rejuvenating. A 20 to 30-minute fire massage at Izumi costs $18.

Kim Kardashian didn't light herself on fire — yet — but did undergo a painful procedure for her reality show: a vampire facial.

A film crew captured Kardashian crying and moaning while she endured the treatment. A technician at the Miami Institute for Age Management took a vial of blood from the reality's star's arm, then put it in a centrifuge to separate the blood into plasma and platelets. Kardashian had her face pricked all over with tiny needles before the "platelet-rich plasma" mixture was then spread on her face. The clip from "Kim and Kourtney Take Miami" went viral online, but the medical community was ambivalent. Dr. Joseph Merola, a dermatologist at Brigham and Women's Hospital, told Boston.com, "in theory, growth factors will thicken the skin's outer dermis, reduce fine lines and wrinkles, and provide some rejuvenation, but all of these cells in the skin are already bathed in blood and perfused with these growth factors."

The message is clear — no matter what those on the cover of US Weekly are doing, don't try this at home. If you're going to try acupuncture, cupping, fire therapy or bloody facials, consult with an expert in the field.